clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. comes back from two laps down, wins Kansas Lottery 300

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. rebounded from two laps down to win the Kansas Lottery 300 at the Kansas Speedway after Kyle Busch ran out of fuel with the checkered flag in sight.

Jerry Markland

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was two laps down at lap 106 after tangling with Joey Logano as the pair battled for fourth-place.

One-hundred laps later, Stenhouse passed Kyle Busch as he ran out of fuel coming off the final corner to win the Kansas Lottery 300. It is Stenhouse's sixth win of the 2012 season and the eighth of the defending series champion's career.

Austin Dillon edged out Logano for second place, before Logano went into turn one and side-slapped Stenhouse's car as retaliation for the earlier incident.. Point leader Elliott Sadler finished fourth and Cole Whitt completed the top-five.

Busch wound up sixth, Justin Allgaier was seventh, Michael Annett finished eighth, Sam Hornish Jr. took ninth, and Danica Patrick completed the top-10.

The race was extended for a green-white checkered after Hal Martin - 15 laps off the pace - tangled with Scott Lagasse Jr. and drew a yellow with three laps remaining.

The caution period was extended one extra lap when Hornish ran out of fuel on the backstretch. That extra lap probably cost Busch his first Nationwide Series win in his own race car. Paul Menard, who led a race-high 109 laps and was tracking Busch at the time of the Lagasse/Martin tangle, ran out of gas on the restart and wound up a heartbreaking 16th.

With the victory, Stenhouse cuts Sadler's lead to just six markers with three races remaining. Sadler seemed primed to put a solid gap on the man whom he chased for last year's title, but Stenhouse's exhibition of never-give-up driving keeps the title tight.

The Nationwide Series takes next weekend off before beginning its final three-week stretch in Texas in two weeks. Stenhouse won there earlier this spring, while Sadler triumphed at Phoenix, site of the following weekend's race, back in February.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.